Plato, Republic, Book VI: The Allegory of the Cave
The son of a wealthy and noble family, Plato (427-347 B.C.) was preparing for a career in politics when
the trial and eventual execution of Socrates (399 B.C.) changed the course of his life. He abandoned his
political career and turned to philosophy, opening a school on the outskirts of Athens dedicated to the Socratic
search for wisdom.
In this allegory, Socrates addresses a series of questions to Glaucon.
Section 1
1. [Socrates] And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: -Behold! Humans living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all
along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they
cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.
Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised
way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players
have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.
2. [Glaucon] I see.
3. [Socrates] And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and
figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of
them are talking, others silent.
4. [Glaucon] You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
5. [Socrates] Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another,
which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
6. [Glaucon] True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move
their heads?
7. [Socrates] And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows?
8. [Glaucon] Yes, he said.
9. [Socrates] And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were
naming what was actually before them?
10. [Glaucon] Very true.
11. [Socrates] And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not
be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing
shadow?
12. [Glaucon] No question, he replied.
13. [Socrates] To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
14. [Glaucon] That is certain.
Section 2
15. [Socrates] And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and
disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn
his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him,
and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then
conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is
approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, -what
will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and
requiring him to name them, -will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he
formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?
16. [Glaucon] Far truer.
17. [Socrates] And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will
make him turn away to take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in
reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?
18. [Glaucon] Of course.
19. [Socrates] And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held
fast until he's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he
approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now
called realities.
20. [Glaucon] Not all in a moment, he said.
21. [Socrates] He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the
shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves;
then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky
and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?
22. [Glaucon] Certainly.
23. [Socrates] Last of all, he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he
will see him in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.
24. [Glaucon] Certainly.
25. [Socrates] He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the
guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his
fellows have been accustomed to behold?
26. [Glaucon] Clearly, he said, he would first see the sun and then reason about him.
Section 3
27. [Socrates] And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his fellowprisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them?
28. [Glaucon] Certainly, he would.
29. [Socrates] And if they were in the habit of conferring honors among themselves on those who were quickest
to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and
which were together; and who were therefore best able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think
that he would care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Would he not say with
Homer, Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do
and live after their manner?
30. [Glaucon] Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and
live in this miserable manner.
31. [Socrates] Imagine once more, I said, such a one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old
situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness?
32. [Glaucon] To be sure, he said.
33. [Socrates] And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners
who had never moved out of the cave, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady
(and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable) would
he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it
was better not even to think of ascending; and if anyone tried to free another and lead him up to the light, let
them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death.
34. [Glaucon] No question, he said.
Section 4
35. [Socrates] This entire allegory, I said, you may now fasten, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the
prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you
interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor
belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or
false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with
an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent
of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the
intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private
life must have his eye fixed.
36. [Glaucon] I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you.
37. [Socrates] Moreover, I said, you must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling
to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to
dwell; which desire of theirs is very natural, if our allegory may be trusted.
38. [Glaucon] Yes, very natural.
39. [Socrates] And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state
of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has
become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other
places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavoring to meet the conceptions of
those who have never yet seen absolute justice?
40. [Glaucon] Anything but surprising, he replied.
41. [Socrates] Anyone who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two
kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is
true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one
whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of
man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having
turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his
condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which
comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who
returns from above out of the light into the cave.
42. [Glaucon] That, he said, is a very just distinction.